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Robin Gibb,CBE died today, May 20,2012 at the age of 62. This is the latest in a remarkable sequence of recent music star deaths, In the past weeks, Whitney Houston, Levon Helm, Adam Yauch, and Donna Summer as well as some less noted musicians have died. Robin's death wasn't unexpected, but there was a slight element of surprise, in that he cheated death at first when he came out of his coma. I have been a Bee Gees fan for awhile, and I imagine a lot of ABBA fans are, since they were both pop bands that were big in the 1970's. They both came from exotic places, dabbled in disco but were capable of other things, they both were wonderful vocal bands, and featured the work of legendary songwriting partnerships.

Robin was a quirky kind of guy, perhaps a underrated talent, since he had the misfortune and fortune of being in the same band as the great Barry Gibb. Robin had a reedy tenor, and had a unique vibrato sound, which he used most successfully on m…

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Paul Simon have been chosen to be the recipients of the 2012 Polar Music Prize,
Sweden’s most prestigious award for musicians. The prizes were awarded in StockholmTuesday, Aug. 28.
The award was founded by the late Stig Anderson, ABBA's manager, and has been handed out since
1992. It is typically shared by a pop artist and a classical musician. Stig originally wanted to give money to provide for a Nobel music prize , but the Nobel people rejected that idea.

To learn more about the prize visit their excellent website Polar Music Prize
Previous winners include Pink Floyd, Sir Paul McCartney, BB King, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Ennio Morricone and Bob Dylan, among others.
The prize is awarded by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Usually, Frida attends the ceremonies, though the other members of ABBA never have (correct me if I am wrong about that).